Improving Cooling System In MSI GE40-Barebones-Based Laptop

Hi all,

Just over a couple of years back, I purchased a laptop from PC Specialist which used the barebones kit from the MSI GE40. The model sold was a SkyFire IV and contains an i5-4210M combined with an 850M (DDR5 variant).

I recently replaced the thermal compound for the GPU with CoolLaboratory Liquid Ultra, but sadly could not do this for the CPU heatsink as it's aluminium, so I've ordered some CoolLaboratory Liquid Copper for this.

The main issue, however, is the tiny, noisy and largely ineffective fan within the laptop. Ideally I would like to perform some kind of mod here to replace this cooler entirely. I'm not averse to drilling holes in the bottom casing of the device or otherwise cutting parts out of it.

The problem is that I haven't found any posts from anyone who's done this previously. I'm aware that my options are limited by the 0.55A power draw (as I don't want to damage the motherboard) as well as the connector (though I can easily rewire an existing 3-pin fan to this), but surely something must be possible.

What I'd love to do is be able to put in a larger, quieter fan and increase the thickness of the bottom of the laptop to house this. (I'd rather have the laptop twice the size and quieter than thinner and loud.) I don't have my own 3D printer, but I'm sure I can find places that will let you use theirs for a reasonable fee.

Any thoughts / suggestions?

 

My thoughts on this is that you seem to have thought this out thoroughly.

Before proceeding though; I would suggest you get the whole process designed/finalized (on paper) and have a final and unalterable price for the whole project. Only then would I proceed with the first cut/drilling of the notebook, assuming of course that the final design and the cost is within your expectations. (Yeah; I know; common sense...).

Your best course of action though is to sell the system as-is and put that towards a new(er) system that you can actually live with. Always cheaper in the long run... And much easier to do if you can have both systems available at the same time - even if it's for a few days... (for testing, data transfer, matching the old setup to the new system, etc.).

While a fan and a few holes/design changes will be very few dollars - I would think that designing and fitting a 3D printed part(s) (and here, I'm assuming multiple iterations...) would move this project into the 'not worth it' class. But I hope I'm wrong!

Either way, hope this bump helps with others giving their suggestions/thoughts too.

Good luck.

 

I work with 3D printing fairly regularly. It costs a lot more than people expect, and parts often need to be thicker than expected due to material/process limitations.

 

You really need to take this into account. If you really want to have 3D printed parts, you will need to make a decision on and check a few things first.

• The tolerances you need. This is very important as it will determine not only the type of material you need to use, but also the type of 3D printer you need and what kind of cost will be associated with it. Filament 3D printers are the most common type, but there are a lot of different ways to perform additive manufacturing and filament printers are essentially one of the cheapest, but not the most precise.
• The material to be used. Related to tolerances, but there are many different materials to choose from even as far as polymers are concerned. Some will shrink, warp, etc. less than others. If you want to have a new bottom cover made, you will likely need something like a polycarbonate/ABS blend or any polymer with similar or better mechanical properties. Choosing the right kind of polymer for a part is somewhat an art in itself.
• How feasible it is to 3D print the kind of part you want. You may have to include some supports that will need to be removed afterwards for your part to actually be manufactured properly.

Once you've settled on the process, material, etc. You should first get a CAD design of the part done afterwards since you'll need it for having the part(s) printed. honestly, this looks like it could be a rather expensive project.

If I really wanted to go at it had access to whatever equipment I needed. I would first get an accurate CAD model of the actual laptop and the various removable parts that you want to change. Then I would design the parts needed. Verify that it will work with the CAD model. That would also help somewhat with what kind of tolerances you can accept for your newly designed parts.

Only then would I move to having it manufactured.

Also, you can pretty much forget any process other than 3D printing. Polymer laptop parts are normally made using injection molding and while having a part molded isn't expensive. Having the mold made is ridiculously expensive. We're talking tens to hundreds of thousands for a mold, so forget that.

Another option would be to make a mold of the part and use a cast cure process for some kind of thermoset polymer, but I'm far from certain you'd be able to get something satisfactory or even be able to find a thermoset that would fulfill the role of making a different bottom cover well.

This kind of project would be something that could be considered worthy of a final year mechanical engineering university program.

The bottom line is that it will be expensive and time consuming should you decide to go ahead with it.